Segues: A Correspondence in Poetry

by William Stafford, Marvin Bell

Poetic letters between two writers deal with friendship, family life, storytelling, and the past

Genres: Poetry

52 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

William Edgar Stafford was an American poet and pacifist, and the father of poet and essayist Kim Stafford. He and his writings are sometimes identified with the Pacific Northwest.

In 1970, he was named Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that is now known as Poet Laureate. In 1975, he was named Poet Laureate of Oregon; his tenure in the position lasted until 1990. In 1980, he retired from Lewis & Clark College but continued to travel extensively and give public readings of his poetry. In 1992, he won the Western States Book Award for lifetime achievement in poetry.


Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...

Reviews

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Stafford and Marvin Bell, Segues (Godine, 1983)

Marvin Bell and the late William Stafford, two of America's old guard of prizewinning poets, came up with an idea during a (boring, we infer) writer's conference to correspond in poems, using the last-received poem as the genesis of ideas for the present poem. It's something poets do quite often, but without the kind of structure and formality they were setting out. The result, after two years of correspondence, was the book Segues.

It's a neat little package, and you can pick it up assuming that what's inside is going to be good writing; both poets have a solid track record of excellent work. But what's most interesting here is a chance to look at the way poems come to form, to look at an image Bell puts in as an aside that becomes the basis of a Stafford poem, and the tangents that poem sends Bell off on, etc. The fact that the poetry is quite good seems to be something of a sidelight, given that. ***

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of such high-powered poets, I expected more, so I was disappointed in this book. Just between you and me, if two poets decide to write poems in response to each other's poems, I expect a bit more clarity and thematic connection. I did not expect either Stafford or Bell to confound or confuse me, but they did, and just in case you are wondering, poetry is supposed to communicate, and clarity is a virtue, and saying something significant in a poems is, well, like, kind of a requirement. There were some good lines, but the poems were vague and bland--NOT the kind of work I've come to expect from Stafford and Bell. And when those poets of the stature of Stafford and Bell let us down, it's quite a disappointment. Skip this one: read any one book by both authors to see what they can really do.

[Terry Persun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully done. There were times where it was difficult to know which poet wrote which poem. These are two of my favorite poets.